Amidst all of the fighting and explosions, I kept an eye for any useful loot, the Canticle augury scans flashing rapidly on my holoscreen and comparing the Ork ships with the Imperium's known ship profiles.
While from the front or side the vessels would be mostly unrecognizable, due to erratic weapons and armor plates add-ons improvised by Ork Mekboys, from behind the number and placement of engines was a dead give-away.
Cruisers of Mars and Lunar patterns, light cruisers and frigates, transport barges and ore haulers, even an Ironclad_Battleship and an Exorcist_Grand_Cruiser. It seemed this Ork Waaagh was composed of at least 80 percent from retro-fitted Imperium vessels.
Didn't fill me with confidence about the success rate of the Imperial Navy in their campaigns, nor the safety of the Imperium supply lines.
The bridge Tech-priest soon achieved long range contact with Ryza and began imputing the Forge World's designations for these Orks of WAAAGH! Grax and Rarguts.
The Grax Waaagh! had been ongoing for a longer time, and the promise of fighting and loot had drawn in the newly arrived Rarguts Waaagh!, which we were busy crippling right now.
"Captain, I have located two main Warbosses, on their largest ships. I recommend we target them with Vortex warheads." the datapshere-expert Magos announced a minute later.
I mused at that proposal for a minute, then decided not to. Infesting those ships with demons wouldn't help me salvage them, plus Forge Ryza did not send me a plea to use any means to rescue them. Nor was I confident I could close those rifts with my small fleet.
I checked the system map for something that could help and noticed a Battle Barge of the Space Wolves Chapter, with an Astartes Strike Cruiser as escort.
Now, these guys would be useful indeed.
"Magos, send a vox communique to the Space Wolves and request a Marine Company to support us boarding and capturing the largest ships of Rarguts Waagh!" I ordered, then I turned towards the army regiment colonels standing ready at the holomap table.
"Colonels, I can expend 2 corvettes as boarding crafts for our guardsmen and servitors. Don't let their sacrifice be in vain. Those big ships have to be captured and returned into humanity's hands." I proclaimed quite heroically.
Without engines to provide constant acceleration, the Ironclad and the Exorcist were falling behind their other ships still pressing the big red button to reach Forge Ryza faster.
I urged the Canticle to target two Mars-type cruisers next, and to blow up as many smaller ships it could.
The Machine Spirit seemed angry and excited, and obeyed eagerly, increasing the rate of fire of our lance batteries and adjusting course to gain better angles for the next torpedo salvo.
No matter how bullshit the warp manipulation of an Ork Waagh was, a ship without engines couldn't steer as well as one with functional engines. The Orks tried of course, assembling sails made of metal plates and oars made of long antennas or support beams, and it even worked to a very small degree. But paddling in the void with oars, as illogical and nonsensical it might be, was too slow, and we could steer ourselves away from their Big Gunz firing arcs.
They launched fighta-bombas and other assault craft to annoy us, but my fleet did have amazingly good point defense weapons, and new ships. We barely missed any of their smoking and sputtering contraptions, some even powered by coal and steam engines by the looks of them.
But if the Orks overran Ryza, they would have the best of the Imperium's plasma reactors and weapons, and would become a major threat to the entire galaxy.
Couldn't let that happen.
"Captain, the Space Wolves have agreed to dispatch two Terminator squads and some Assault Marines to spearhead the boarding parties. ETA 3 hours." the tech priest proclaimed victoriously.
Indeed, even with such small numbers the Astartes knew their jobs well. They even had genetically modified dogs the size of a car to help, though I wasn't sure any dog could serve as a mount for a Terminator-pattern power armor.
We shall see.
"The wet dogs of Russ." Ludvaius muttered with a weird voice.
The other Astartes in my crew remained silent and calm, simply examining the space battle and taking mental notes. At least he was learning, my Scythe Captain.
Anyway, those 3 hours should give us plenty time to secure and isolate our boarding targets, and even begin initial landings, so I could claim ownership over these relics after the Orks were exterminated.
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Darting to the sides and below the huge Ork behemoths, my corvettes expended all their consumable ammunition to thin out the more fragile Ork escorts and transports.
Soon enough, the torpedoes were reloaded again and the Mars-class cruisers under Ork control also lost their engines and speed, drifting behind the main front of the Ork Waagh.
I then focused the lance batteries of the Canticle on the remaining light cruisers and simply evaporated their exposed backsides, and filled the void with two dozen hulks spinning out of control.
We also had to slow down to maintain our safe-ish position to the rear of the bigger Ork Battleship, and soon the Ork Waagh left the range of our weapons.
Torpedoes did have a longer range, and our last salvo caught two Ork infested Lunar cruisers from behind and left them crippled far ahead of my fleet. Meanwhile, our lance batteries began cutting large holes into our targets, exposing the Orks to vacuum and
clearing a path into the interior.
Servitors and tech-priests, as well as the smaller armor like Weasels and Sentinels began loading into the two sacrificial corvettes, which will act as a kilometer long boarding torpedo.
The more squishy guardsmen and grenadiers, with a battalion of void marines would arrive later and insert via shuttle and then through the length on the corvette into the battleship and the grand cruiser.
Two hours later the first corvette accelerated and hit the Ironclad into the weaker backside, sticking out like a funnel. Good enough.
"Begin the liberation, colonels!" I ordered while changing the focus of my attention on the next prize.
The second corvette was ready and impacted the Exorcist just before the Astartes Strike cruiser arrived.
I just pointed to the next batch of Army Colonels, gifted to me by various Forge Worlds along with their Guard regiments. I didn't quite see eye to eye with most of them, but they were useful nonetheless.
Mostly for defending entrenched positions, sadly. They worked great at Estaban, during the defensive phase and struggled to keep up and adapt to maneuver and other attacking tactics in the liberation phase.
It didn't matter that much because Estaban and the Iron Hands had more than enough heavy machines and expertise for assaults, but I still wasn't happy with their poor training.
"Rogue Trader Lancefire, your arrival was fortuitous. I see you have already began boarding the largest Ork vessels. Very commendable!" a voice with a strange accent arrived on the vox channel.
"Your target is the Ork Warbosses, Astartes! Try not to damage my salvage prizes overly much. Pef out!" I replied with a wry voice.
An amused chuckle was the only response from that Space Wolf. Overwhelming firepower was in their codex.
I should be happy if anything was left standing, after they completed the mission.
"Escorts, spread out in pattern Omicron. Auguries scans to maximum and keep an eye for any sneaky xenos prowling about." I ordered on the clan channel, dispersing the corvettes farther out in a sphere, to increase visibility and cross-sectional scan profiles.
Soon enough, the helpful Astartes took the lead and began butchering their way deeper into the derelict spaceships, filling the hallways with splattered green mushrooms and bolter casings.
"How about you two, wanna go loosen up those violent inner urges?" I wondered idly, turning to my guardian Astartes.
Ludvaius growled at me, while Captain Thrasius just nodded calmly. "It is our duty, Lord Pef. Do try and avoid getting into more fist fights, if you can." he advised me politely, and checked his combi-bolter the tenth time.
I just waved him off. Your own Chaplain punched me, you wise ass!
"You too, Ludvaius?" I wondered out loud.
"Stay safe, Captain" he replied with a serene voice.
After the space marines left, I turned towards the Ryza tech-priest. "Magos, assemble the rest of the available servitors and tech-priests and secure the crippled cruisers. Once the reactors are safe and powered down, we may begin cleansing the greenskins as well."
"Captain, that would leave our ship without vital security and tech support!" he argued just like I taught him. It made sense to have your subordinates point out critical mistakes, after all.
"All true, tech priest. But we are here at Ryza. I'm sure your Fabricator General will replenish my loses, once I gift him a captured ship or two." I replied a bit amused, pointing at the system map.
The tech priest blinked and then nodded a second later. "You are correct, Captain. A cruiser is worth a hundred times as much as any loses we might sustain from boarding operations."
I know, my friend. I invented the gift game.
Each capital ship salvaged would be a Favor with Ryza, and if they wanted the relic Grand Cruiser I would get something even nicer in return.